Dar approves Rs5b for USF Telecentre Projects

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar here on Saturday accorded in principle approval for the Universal Service Fund (USF) Telecentre Projects throughout Pakistan.
The Minister also simultaneously ordered release of Rs5 billion from Federal Consolidated Fund (FCF) for the USF project. In addition Rs1 billion would also be released for the R&D projects. The Finance Minister had a detailed meeting with Minister for IT, Anusha Rehman along with senior officials of her Ministry and representatives of the the USF.
The Finance Minister was given a detailed presentation on the Telecentre project and informed that the basic idea behind setting up these centres was to provide access to people in far flung areas of the country to e-communication and IT facilities. He was apprised that 500 telecentres were proposed to be built at a total cost of Rs11.5 billion in a period of three years. The minister was also informed that 417 sites for the centres had been surveyed to date.